By Jel Santos
Because of the huge influx of dialysis patients asking for help, a board member of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office(PCSO) is now pushing for a higher budget for the dialysis program of the agency.
Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Director Sandra Cam
(ALI VICOY / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
PCSO Director Sandra Cam told dialysis patients at the Lung Center of the Philippines that she will urge the PCSO Board to increase the budget for the dialysis program in order to cater to more patients.
“I’ve promised the patients that I will urge the board to raise the budget for the dialysis program. Most of the people seeking our help are dialysis patients,” she told the Manila Bulletin.
Around 120 dialysis patients go to the satellite office of PCSO at the Lung Center of the Philippines every day, the PCSO board member said.
Cam, meanwhile, did not disclose how much increase for the dialysis program she was expecting.
The board member said she will be backed by PCSO Charity Assistance Department Manager Muriel Pajarillo before the Board.
Pajarillo affirmed the statement of Cam by saying that patients seeking medicine assistance for dialysis are increasing.
“For Philhealth members, PCSO currently gives assistance after the exhaustion of the 90 sessions provided by Philhealth for three types of interventions: hemodialysis/peritonial through medicines at P5, 600 per tranche / six times a year; for hemodialysis procedure, there is a one time availment which has a maximum of P31, 500 after 90 sessions of Philhealth; and peritonial dialysis has a maximum of P31, 200 which is also after 90 sessions of Philhealth,” the PCSO charity assistance department manager said.
According to the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), “diabetes mellitus and hypertension have taken center stage in the causation of End Stage Renal Disease, which, together, account for almost 60 percent of dialysis patients.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) said kidney disease was one of the leading causes of death in the Philippines and kills nearly 16,000 Filipinos each year.